Don't Stammer
by zopponde
Summary: Hinata's obsession with Naruto seems unhealthy anymore. Kiba might not disprovee so much if only she had the courage to deal with a guy like him. Maybe he can lead her in the right direction for real happiness...Love triangle KibaHinataNaruto Serious!
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer:** I own not anything. Just the writing.

* * *

"Kagebunshin no Jutsu!" 

A pale face cringed into the bark of the tree, facing the noise until the wooden trunk obscured the white eyes from the source. The figure relaxed slightly and returned to a position to watch the events in the clearing beyond that tree.

Yellow hair protruded at odd angles from a head emerged from a body clad in an orange-and-blue flight jacket. Identical figures surrounded the one that the watcher knew very well was the original; their circular pattern showed the face to anyone who looked, displayed the three softly curved lines on either cheek to any angle, from one duplicate or another.

Dark violet hair fell over the upper edges of blank white eyes; the face smiled, blushing slightly, pleased to watch the one that the eyes saw only beautifully as he trained several times over at once.

"Hinata."

The pale face ducked, cowering from the one who found her as she ducked into the hollow made from a headband tied around her neck. But it was not her celebrity who named her, and she turned to face her discoverer.

Bright red triangles glowed in the shadows of a gray hooded jacket with brown fur hiding the face further. Eyes with slivers for pupils held a criticism over a question.

"Kiba—p-please be quiet?"

The whisper came out weakly from pale lips hidden by a scrap of metal on the headband. Hands hidden in the sleeves of a hooded coat met, dragged together by an attraction like magnetism so that the tips of either forefinger tapped the other.

"He's not going to hear us—he's kind of an idiot, you know, and he really does get into his training. You should know that about as well as anyone else, Hinata."

Purple hair topped pink skin where it once hid a white forehead.

"W-well, that doesn't mean you sh-should be so loud…"

Hinata's mouth widened slightly in a nervous smile.

A small mostly-white furry creature by Kiba's ankles barked softly. Its gray-clad keeper nodded in agreement.

"He's an idiot, Hinata—accept it. He probably wouldn't even notice if you ran up to him and started with the hugging and kissing and confessions—he wouldn't notice that you notice him even then. He begs for attention,"

he scoffed,

"but he doesn't notice when that one girl gives him more attention than he probably even wanted."

Hinata cringed.

"I-it's not l-like that. I-I-I'm not that…I-I d-don't…"

"I hate to be mean, Hinata, but I do often wonder if it's healthy for you to keep skipping training just to watch him and to follow him and to—"

"I'm n—I'm not that bad!"

Hinata nearly yelled. There was no longer a constant ringing of metal on metal in the air. Six pairs of sky-colored cerulean eyes between the lines on cheeks and protective headbands lining blond hair all turned to face the tree hiding two arguing teammates.

No motion escaped the brown fur, until the red triangles warped in a wide grin. One clawed hand raised itself from its limp position next to brown shorts; one long nail pointed directly at the orange-clad boy who just wanted to train.

"_NARUTO!_ You are my _rival!_"

"rival, rival, rival…"

"I will defeat you one day soon!"

"soon, soon, soon…"

Kiba's scream echoed, even in the small clearing.

"Hinata's obviously not very strong—I surpassed her long ago! She's a bad fighter—no matter how you look at it, I was stronger going into the academy than she is now!"

Kiba's eyes held viscosity; his grin was cruel. Hinata gasped for air as those twelve clear blue eyes transfixed themselves on her before flickering back to Kiba; she held her breath when she saw the rebel shown to her through those brilliant blue eyes full of vengeful implications of cruel justice.

"You're on, pal! I'm willing to put down _anyone_ who keeps yelling at someone like that!"

Naruto's chest puffed out in determined spirit; all six clones held fierce grins nearly identical to Kiba's, the only difference being that strong azure shade and the bright reflections of the sun that burned with the day's shine.

* * *

**A/n:** No A/n at the start. Because that would ruin the magic. Right? As in this be a **SERIOUS** fic. 

Ohhhhhh, NaruHinaNaruHinaNaruHinaNaruHinaKibaHinaNaruHinaNaruHina...  
Which is a **straight pairing!** :D I'm so proud of myself! The last fanfic that I wrote in which everyone was straight was, like...  
...my Fruits Basket fanfic which never met an ending? Yeah, I guess so.  
Before that was...no, that kind of implied...  
And before that, the last all-straight fanfic was that little crap-for-fanfic that I wrote on paper when I was pretty young that was on Pokemon and I don't even remember th plot but that's probably a good thing and I hope it somehow wound up burned:heart:

**I updated my profile. Go look at it.** It looks like it was written by someone with actual _organizational skills!_ Le gasp! Me? Organization skills? More of a crack pairing than Itachi and Kankuro!  
Hmmm...Itachi and Kankuro...  
(by the way, this conversation is revealing that fandom ATE my LIFE and/or SOUL.)

And this tale was my **procrastination**. There shall be three to five chapters AND NO MORE. All will be posted over this weekend. Be happy that I'm doing this for you. My wordcount is behind.

**REVIEW!** I tried to make it seem actually likely--what do you think? Did keeping all the dialogue so seperate from the text make it hard to understand? Or add to the effect? **Tell me!**

**The title** will be making a touch more sense tomorrow.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/n:** Ishouldn'thavecommitedmyselftothisIshouldn'thavecommitedmyselftothisIshouldn'thavecommitedmyselftothis.  
It wouldn't be a problem if there weren't so many other things I'm supposed to be doing instead of writing. Honestly, I don't have th next chapter ready for tomorrow--I need to get typing.

Oh well. Decision made. I can pull this off...probably.

Kiba's not mean. He's just bitter. More on this later. (of course, at this point, he looks like he's bipolar.)

Please excuse the lack of transition. This will be a recurring theme. What happens in-between really doesn't matter.

And...um...the quality of writing dwindles, and I'd try harder if it wasn't for (a) the time constraints (b) I can't keep going that well for that long without getting sick of it and (c) you probably don't care all that much anyway. It's not a suddn drop, I don't think, but I'm getting quicker to just go, "Kiba walked," "Hinata stammered," "Naruto...did that thing that Naruto did."

**Disclaimer:** I own only the writing itself. Everything else is Masashi Kishimoto's

* * *

"You know that he really only notices loud things, right?" 

White disks of vision directed themselves upward to face a canvas of expression painted with red triangles and inhuman eyes. The hood that usually covered the head was down now, and a small inhuman head of mostly white fur poked out over the top of the zipper. An expression met his steely gaze, pale eyes brimming with instinctive uncertainty connected directly by a thread of attention with serious eyes of cold temperatures amplified by those slits of pupils.

The paler of the faces broke the thread and turned to the path ahead of its body, watching her toes skim the bottom of her vision before she transferred her weight and they disappeared until the other foot came forward. A blush began to form, turning her cheeks a pale rosy shade. Her pale-pupiled eyes of pure pearl held some confusion; she understood what he said, but she wasn't sure how to respond.

"You should start with that stutter."

Almost-black hair bobbed mid-step as she winced.

"I-I c-can't help it."

"And you stutter a lot more when you're around him than when you're around anyone else."

A patch set on the shoulder of her hooded sweatshirt had a shape between a spiral and a teardrop; it seemed more like a teardrop as it ran down when her shoulders sagged and she sighed.

"I-I can't help it. H-he's just…so…"

Her pace slowed as she struggled for words.

"…intimidating,"

she admitted,

"when he's being such a great person, a-and he's trying so hard, and h-he's actually g-getting so-s-somew-where—"

"See? Just thinking about him is making you stammer more."

Pure pearl eyes looked up timidly to see that their owner's friend stopped in front of her and turned to look back.

"Hinata, this guy's…I guess he'd be good for you."

It seemed to take the brunet a lot of strength to admit this; his face scrunched in concentration, trying to deny it.

"But…for you to…be happy with him, you need to think better of yourself. He might be great, he might be wonderful, but he's not too good for you—in my opinion…"

He took a pace forward, toward Hinata, who took a small step back instinctively that he compensated for in his wide stride. A clawed hand reached upward as the wind pushed the long tendrils framing a pale face out of the way of blank white eyes.

"In my opinion, _you're_ too good for _him_."

The wind stopped, and the hooded jacket stopped growing and shrinking with her breathing. Hinata caught her breath, gasped, and resumed normal breathing.

"K-Kiba…"

She couldn't believe that she still stammered.

Kiba frowned.

"You're thinking of him. I'm not sure I like that."


	3. Chapter 3

**A/n:** I hope Kiba seems a little less evil now. I mean...well...yeah, I guess that's kinda a failure -.-;; but...at the end, I think he gives a reasonable reason _why_ he's being kinda jerky (kinda? that's a life-endangering understatement...).

Don't be intimidated by the small thing on the scrollbar. A lot of the length is from five-or-less-word dialogue. It'll go faster than if the previous chapters were this long.

And...yeah. Don't hate Kiba. I personally kind of know the feeling and am sympathetic (of course, I know what he's supposed to be feeling because I'm trying to write that feeling, I'm probably not conveying it quite right). Poor Kiba's just being driven insane by this whole situation.

Oh. And I guess it might technically be AU. I don't know--do they have ice cream stores in the Narutoverse?

Rose symbology at the end. I'm not sure it's quite accurate, but I think it's at least pretty close.

**Skipable rant:** One of the things that irritate me to no end is when everyone talks about Naruto's outfit and they call it an orange jumpsuit. For crying out loud, it is PANTS and (a T-shirt under) A JACKET! which I consider a flight jacket because flight jackets have that thick and warm and fur-lined and big collar that's usually folded down kinda thing going. And because I can't think of a better term for the thing. But, really! He'll unzip his JACKET, and it can come off and he'll _still have his pants on_! Furthermore, the jacket is considerably less tight than the pants, and there's a belt, and seams don't line up and...okay, so I pick at details. I once tried to make a Naruto costume, which made me really look at the details, and it's okay if you don't use any details at all (like "he wore all orange with a bit of blue") but I think my biggest pet peeve is details that are incorrect (like "he wore an orange jumpsuit") and I _know_ are incorrect (like "a spiral patch on his left shoulder". Nobody really cares about which side it's on--furthermore, it could easily be mistaken for _your_ left and...that's a whole 'nuther rant). _End rant._

**Disclaimer:** Kiba, Hinata, Naruto, basics of the world (c) Masashi Kishimoto. The dude behind the counter, plot concept, the words in that order (c) me.

* * *

"Don't think of him." 

Hinata didn't like this training. She appreciated the thought, but she wasn't sure this was the right way to go about it.

"Abolish all thoughts orange. It's summer—take off that flight jacket. Whiskers are lame and out of style."

Kiba stood across from her, a few feet away, telling her to stop thinking orange.

"B-but—"

"You're thinking of him."

"Wouldn't it be better t-to just learn to n-not st-stammer because of him?"

Kiba hesitated.

"…no, it wouldn't. Would you like some ice cream?"

Hinata didn't like that he evaded almost everything Naruto. She wanted to stop stammering—not give up her love.

But ice cream did sound very good.

"Y-yes."

"You're thinking of him."

"No I'm not!"

"Then why are you stammering?"

Hinata sighed and directed her attention to the man behind the counter. Her white eyes stared directly at his blue ones, tracing every feature of his face until she decided she could act with confidence.

"I-I'd like—"

"Don't stammer."

Hinata sighed, frustrated.

"I-I'd like a sma—"

"Don't stammer."

"C-could I have—"

"Don't stammer."

It seemed cruel and unusual. She shouldn't have to deal with this because Kiba didn't want her to stammer.

"I-I can do this. I just can't start a conversation without wavering j-just a little."

"Change that."

"I can't."

"You just did."

"It's not the same. It's hard to begin a conversation, being he f-first to say something…"

"Well, have you decided what you want?"

"Y-yes, of course."

"Don't stammer."

He whispered this last repetition as the man behind the counter repeated his phrase.

"Can I take your order?"

"I'll have a-a—"

"Don't—"

"I know!"

Hinata cried this last word, slamming her fist onto the counter.

"I-I'm t-trying not to! I s-sw-swear, I'm t-trying m-my h-h-hardest! I-it's just, th-that, y-you p-pu-put so mu-ch pr-p-pressure—o-on me—"

She felt pathetic. She came to tears over ordering ice cream. Who else did that? Nobody. Hinata was alone. She would always be alone, because nobody wanted to stay with a girl who went into hysterical tears because she stammered when ordering ice cream.

"Dude!"

the man behind the counter exclaimed.

"Just let her order her ice cream! You're holding up the customers!"

Indeed, Hinata was aware that people were gathering around the spectacle, and this attention made her more nervous, made her breath more rapidly, made her sniffle like a child scolded for not looking both ways before crossing the street.

She held her breath at its pinnacle when she felt a warm embrace.

"I'm sorry, Hinata. I didn't mean to be so hard on you."

A warm shape, probably a face, and maybe lips, was resting against the top of her head. The gesture was comforting, and Hinata felt her heart fluttering like a butterfly tossed by the wind before she calmed and it landed peacefully on a blooming flower and returned to normal pace. Her shoulders started to rise edgily as she inhaled, before sagging dramatically on her exhale, with no intention to rise so greatly again.

"Hey."

The man behind the counter was disgruntled, and his greeting had a rude nasal tone that made Hinata scowl for ruining this moment between herself and Kiba.

"Are you ordering your ice cream or not?"

Hinata made a small squeak, audible only by herself and Kiba. Her voice wavered only slightly as she began her answer.

"I'll have a small sized cake batter ice cream. No sprinkles, please."

The arms around her twitched so slightly she barely noticed.

"Make that large."

Her slight figure twisted to turn her face to join her pale gaze with his peculiar pupils. He was looking forward when she first glanced, but he quickly redirected his attention.

"I don't have enough money for two ice creams. You don't mind sharing, do you?"

A small noise escaped her mouth when she shook her head.

"N-no! Not at all! But…you can pick the flavor, then."

"Hm? No, cake batter's fine! It's…just fine…"

Hinata hesitated before releasing her breath and addressing the cashier.

"Did you get all that?"

"Yeah…"

The slit-pupiled eyes that stared at him held hostility at the cashier's guarded expression that allowed only traces of disproval and rebellion.

The arms around Hinata fell quietly away, and Kiba moved to a table, but not before she caught the beginning tone of a quiet growl. She stared at him with a shy question, and he muttered an answer.

"You can do better than him. I don't think that he's the guy who's best for you."

He then turned around and called to another worker.

"One large cake batter, hold the sprinkles!"

"Come on, Hinata!"

Kiba's voice was friendly with the eager tone that she didn't think she'd ever heard him speak without. She turned to follow him to pick up their ice cream. She tried to reach over the curved glass to take it from the second man, who offered it, but she couldn't quite reach, and Kiba took it instead. He smiled warmly to her, but she couldn't help noticing that one of his eyes seemed tense, revealing to her that he was slightly displeased with something.

"Two spoons?"

The second man offered a pair of plastic spoons over the glass.

"Oh—yes, thank you."

Hinata reached these without Kiba's help. She noticed his shoulder sagging slightly.

Little fuss was made as Kiba handed over the money to pay for the ice cream. He led the way to a table outside—after all, they'd never let Akumaru inside, and the poor pup had to be tied up outside. The Styrofoam container was left on an iron table of intricate design, clear but for a few petals from a nearby flowering tree, and Kiba made a beeline for his dog, patting his head lovingly before returning to the table.

Hinata sat down and lifted a spoon, touching it firmly but shallowly before scooping lightly and lifting it to her mouth. The white plastic slid between her lips, and the bliss of cool crème filled her mouth. Even that small touch of the delicacy the shade of day-old white roses, a new beginning only recently noticed and an innocence faded, made her eyes of such a similar shade close blissfully as the thin line of her mouth widened into a serene smile.

Kiba sat across from her and stared hollowly at her tranquil expression, his own spoon barely gracing the top of the mound of sweet cold before raising it to his lips. He hesitantly licked off the dab on his spoon and flinched at the artificial sweetness, at the kindness that was misunderstood and at the appalling innocence of such sugar-induced sensations. He resisted the urge to begin scraping the false and harsh taste of more sugar than such a canine-associated being like himself could enjoy.

He leaned back in his chair, his expression frustrated and sad, distant and hollow, only one thought running through his mind.

_The things I do for love… _


	4. Chapter 4

**A/n:** Whew! It's done! I was considering doing another chapter, for the sake of Hinata figuring out Kiba, but...nah. I really like the end of this chapter as a story end. I might possibly go for an epilogue/sequel, but I don't think that will be tomorrow. I'm incredibly behind on my novel--I should have forty thousand tonight, not thirty-five thousand--and I need to take a sprint lap on my novel or it won't pass on its fitness test. (which reminds me that my gym teacher never made us run the mile...I hope she doesn't realize this and we have to do it in the cold...)

Does anyone seem really out of character? I tried my best--I spent about fifteen minutes walking around trying to be all tough and talking myself into feeling like Naruto. It was annoying, and I'm still not quite sure I have it quite right...that's the last time I try to so hard to write the characters as Masashi Kishimoto meant them! Such a pain:whine whine whine whine whine:

And...back to details and not mentioning names very much! Me and my indecision...

Now--who wants to try talking me into a sequel or at least an epilogue that will probably wind up with a Christmas theme considering the timing that it will probably have?

**Disclaimer:** Didn't own in the beginning, still don't own, I sincerely doubt I ever will own anything but maybe the actual text itself. Oh, and I also call dibs on the dude behind the counter at the ice cream joint last chapter, but that's in the past.

* * *

A forest of quiet held trees with leaves unmoving, fluttering for only the briefest moment as a few faded blurs passed by. One figure was female, though justification of this was hidden beneath a modest hooded jacket, and the other was male, opposing humility by flaunting worked muscles under an unzipped fur-lined sweatshirt, a small white creature moving alongside the male.

The couple and the dog halted with mechanical precision in a grassy clearing. Both human faces took on expressions of surprise, though the white eyes of the female held a considerably less hostile form of the emotion at the display before them than the male's.

"Kiba!"

There were at least twenty-five identical figures, of which exactly one yelled the name. All of the people had the same outfit; an orange and blue flight jacket and matching pants, rolled to Capri length. Blonde hair raged at the top of each face, eyes glowing an electric blue and accented by dark lines like whiskers on every face.

The male who entered the clearing raised his upper lip in a snarl as one foot slid backward and he leaned forward in a battle-ready position. Clawed hands tensed themselves somewhere above his knees.

"Naruto…are you challenging me?"

"You're the one who decided we're rivals!"

The female's previously pale face took on a pink hue and her fingers met each other near her face.

"N-Naruto…"

"Well!"

Hinata's mutter seemed to make Kiba inflate in a rage.

"I accept your challenge, ramen-breath!"

"Oh, like _you_'re in a position to mock my breath, dog-breath!"

The speaking Naruto pouted but his clones behind him all took on battle-ready positions. Kiba smirked, showing his teeth, barred and pointed, as he barked more insults.

"Zebra-stripe-face!"

"Triangle-face!"

"Dumb blond!"

"No-fun brunet!"

"Girl-stealer!"

"Yeah, well you're a—…wait, _what_?"

Kiba's eyes were widened. He seemed horrified at something, probably himself. His face twitched for a moment, then he left with Akamaru, going the way he came without the turn being visible, leaving behind him a response.

"You are my rival, damn it!"

The leading Naruto appeared confused; the clones returned to a relaxed state, before vanishing in puffs of smoke.

"I'm a…girl stealer? Did I steal his girl or something?"

Hinata stood still, on edge from being left alone with the blond. She was painfully aware of the wind stirring leaves like thoughts she never wanted to think, thoughts of rejection and pain and embarrassment, propelled by the wind of a love that she'd never imagine existing. How could it? It just couldn't, and that was the end, but she didn't want to admit that, because it would hurt even more than the rejection. The ache would be dull, but it would be there and it would last much longer, and the wind would propel thoughts to her that she wouldn't want to feel, thoughts of how her life would be if she hadn't given up, those stinging thoughts propelled at her as the wind shot leaves like bullets at her face. Each touch was a stab when she was halfway into thoughts.

"Hey, Hinata?"

Naruto's question made her gasp at the abrupt attack of reality.

"You wouldn't happen to know who this girl I stole from Kiba is, wudja?"

"N-n-no-o, a-I w-w-would-dn-t—"

Hinata finished this statement with catching her breath, when she remembered Kiba's words.

"_You should start with that stutter…you stutter more when you're around him than when you're around anyone else…You know that he only really notices loud things, right?"_

She took a deep breath, ready to make a move.

"_You should start with that stutter…"_

"N-Naruto…"

It started as a mutter, going through the motions, a test run, making sure it would work. The blond seemed to notice, but didn't seem to hear his own name and merely shrugged.

"Naruto…"

A little quieter, but at least there was no waver.

She firmed her lip, set her face into determination, closed her eyes to focus on her objective and to pray for good luck, filled every nook and cranny of her lungs, and said it before she could take it back.

"_NARUTO!_ You are my—my _crush!_"

It sounded so stupid, she thought the moment it came out, but at least it didn't echo like Kiba's; she squeezed her mind, closing it from the criticism to her previous announcement and pushing forward the next declaration.

"I will d-date you one day _soon!_"

"soon! soon! soon!…"

She cringed as even the echo carried a note of hysteria.

Naruto stared. Blinked. Stared. Blinked twice. Slid one foot back, pointed one finger at her.

"Hey! Are _you_ the girl I'm stealing from Kiba?"

Hinata gasped and stammered, taken aback by the question.

Naruto's eyes lit up, and he grinned, his pose losing its critical aura.

"Hey, hey! You mean you actually _like_ me?"

"Ah—y-yes, I do…"

Naruto's grin widened.

"Hee hee…that's cool!"

"R-really?"

He approached, looking at Hinata closely. Her breath quickened as he came closer.

"Yeah! I mean…hey, you're pretty cute!"

Hinata's lungs felt like they were about to explode. Her head was light; she'd probably pass out any minute now, as always…

She caught her breath. She'd gotten this far—she'd spoken to him without stammering—well, not as much as usual, anyway—she'd confessed her love, and now he was looking at her, paying real attention to her, learning about her, _complimenting_ her—why stop now? If she fainted, she'd wake up and it would all be a dream—even if it really was real, there would be a while after she woke up when she would be tortured because she'd think it was untrue.

Hinata would not faint. She controlled her breath carefully as Naruto inched closer.

"So, you want to date me?"

The last time he came so close, she turned tomato-red and fainted promptly. Her face felt as warm as if she had a fever; she probably was blushing madly. Her lungs tried to bring even more air into her body, but she carefully controlled that.

"Y-y…"

She stopped her answer, closed her eyes, took a soothingly deep breath. Opened her eyes again; nearly gasped at the closeness of those patches of sky that were his eyes to the pale, benign clouds that were hers. Instead, she released her breath slowly, took another calm breath despite her racing heart, and told him, her voice muffled by her determination to keep it steady, no matter the volume.

"Yes."

Naruto's eyes closed in a gleeful smile—she saw a pinkish tint forming on them, that he was blushing near her so much like she so often did around him.

"Uwaaah, you're so cute!"

Orange-sheathed arms wrapped around Hinata; she squeaked, cringing, her arms pinned in front of her by his warm embrace, but gradually relaxed. He loosened his grip enough that she could adjust her arms comfortably; he then pulled her closer, and she just knew he'd be able to feel her heart pumping so hard, but she wanted that moment, and she leaned forward to rest her face against his shoulder.

Her heart beat hard enough for him to know and fast enough that she thought he tensed, her breath was as controlled as a moth in a jar, beating so hard against the glass so determined to break free, but she didn't faint, and she didn't stammer.

_-:The End:-_


End file.
